Global Governmentality

11   Global benchmarking

Participating ‘at a distance’ in the globalizing economy

Wendy Larner and Richard Le Heron¹

Comparative quantitative techniques such as indicators, standards and benchmarks now play a central role in constituting globalizing economic spaces. These globalizing economic spaces are multiple; they include regions (both supraand sub-national), networks, sectors, supply chains and the materials and people enrolled into these. While all of these globalizing economic spaces involve processes of production, distribution and consumption, they do not represent a ‘spatial fix’ (Jessop 1999) that replaces the national economy. Rather, they involve temporary resolutions based on the re-placing of capital and labour through ...